Bullying has been a topic of great discussion across the world due to high numbers of cases reported. Approximately, one-third of students in elementary or middle school get to encounter bullying either as a bully, a victim or both. Bullying does not have a specific definition and might be physical, emotional or physical in nature. It is quite difficult to foretell a student who is bound to get bullied depending on class, race, sex, nationality, age or any factor. Even though bullying can occur on any individual, it is common among teenager, especially in middle or elementary schools. However, bullying in middle or elementary school has been known to have short-term and long-term negative effects on both the victim, the bully and the observers.
Emotional Withdrawal
Students who experience bullying are likely to withdraw emotionally from fellow students and even teachers within their surroundings. If the student is an introvert, their withdrawal may be severe to the point they fail to find it difficult to interact even with their fellow friends (Zastrow " Kirst-Ashman). The situation may be brought by the constant exposure to attack, social isolation and humiliation, which may force the students to sink deeper into their own world.
The situation may also affect the bully. Students who bully their fellow peers are exposed to both short-term and long-lasting emotional trauma almost similar to the one experienced by the victims they bully (Sapouna). In several instances, students who get bullied happen to be victims of bullying themselves. As a result, they show a great number of similar behaviors as those displayed by both the victims and bullies. Meanwhile, observers who do nothing when bullying occurs, face challenges of becoming drunkards, smokers, anxious or even start skipping schools because of the negative psychological impacts, which keeps on recurring even after the incidents.
Depression and Anxiety
Among the students who get bullied, their long-lasting negative effects starts from the short-term impact the students encounter because of constantly getting bullied. Anxiety and depression among the bullied students tend to extend even years after the bullying experience has occurred (Goldblum 193). The effects may involve the lack of appetite, sleeplessness, being unproductive at work and challenges when engaging in their hobbies. Additionally, the situation may make the victims to have difficulties when it comes to developing healthy relationships with their romantic partners or friends.
Based on American Academy of Experts in Trauma Stress, even though the physical damages inflicted upon the victim may heal, the emotional part of the individual may get damaged permanently (Silton). On the other hand, the bullies also fail to establish challenges developing meaningful relationships later in life since their methods of intimidating others does not always work later in life.
Declined Academic Performance
The academic performance of any student whether it is the bully or the victim is greatly affected by the actions they experience. In the case of the victim, the student develops fear and become emotionally disengaged from the rest of the students. Additionally, they are unable to focus on their academics due to constant fear of when they (victims) will get attacked by the bullies (Dunlap). Meanwhile, for the bullies, they spent unnecessary time looking for an individual to bully, which may interfere with their ability to focus on their academics hence resulting in a decline in their performance. On the other hand, individuals who were observers during the bullying incidences may also have it hard to forget the scenarios later in life (Paull, Omari " Standen). The bullying scenarios may keep on replying in the heads of the observers, which may result in adverse psychological effects rendering the observers ineffective in their services delivery or even performing their normal daily routines.
Suicides
There exist a great relationship between suicide and bullying. However, the situation is not as easy as assuming that a victim will first think of committing suicide just after they have been bullied but rather there are various aspects, which will prompt the victim to think along that line (Paull, Omari " Standen). Based on a report by StopBullying.gov, students who get bullied are 2.2 times more likely to committing suicide (Paull, Omari " Standen). The factors which compel the students who have been bullied to contemplate on committing suicide include depression, family issues and a history of trauma (Paull, Omari " Standen). According to the report, there are specific groups, which have been known to have a high likely hood of committing suicide (Paull, Omari " Standen). These groups include Alaskan Native, Gay, Lesbians, American Indian, Asian American, transgender youth and bisexual individuals.
The likely hood of the victim committing suicide may increase faster if the victim does not get supports from individuals around them e.g. peers, parents, and educators. The situation is because bullying makes the victim feel hopeless and helpless (Paull, Omari " Standen). Both of the mentioned feelings pushes the student to have suicidal thoughts (Paull, Omari " Standen). As a result, parents and educators, as well as other parties who have close direct contact with the students, are always informed to monitor any signs of bullying behavior to provide enough time to prevent the situation from getting out of hand in case there are various incidents identified (Paull, Omari " Standen). This is crucial since most students who happen to be victims of bullying have it hard reporting their predicament on fears that the situation will get worse.
Bullying Misconceptions
Bullying is mostly experienced within the media industry and schools. Unfortunately, media tend to lead to increased misconception instead of solving the challenges involved (Englander). As a result of continuous inattention to the severity of bullying in the 20th
century, our society’s knowledge on the magnitude of consequences resulting from bullying was limited leading to several misconceptions discussed below.
1. Adults cannot prevent bullying- This misconception is brought about by the fact that, most adult tend to find it hard to get in between issues involving students and their peers (Englander). However, teachers are better placed to monitor and identify any sign of bullying incidents since the teachers spent the most time with the students at the school (Englander). Meanwhile, principals role involve taking legal action against bullies and establishing measures to ensure that there is zero tolerance to any form of bullying within the institutions they head (Englander). Parents are also instructed to assess any form of behavior change among their children and report any incident of bullying to the school prior to approaching the bully’s parents.
2. Victims of bulling are mostly boys- On the contrary, it is girls who stand a higher chance of experiencing emotional and cyber-bullying (Englander). Meanwhile, both girls and boys are equally placed to be victims of physical bullies.
3. Observers cannot prevent bullying incidents- Even though most observers tend to provide the bullies with the audience they crave for when bullying other individuals, they may stop the bulling incidents (Englander). However, through enough training, observers can minimize bullying through intervening to protect those being bullied as well as establishing and reporting any case of bullying to the relevant authority at school.
Meanwhile, some individuals believe that bullying is a passage in life meant to strengthen the character of an individual from an early stage in life. Surprising most of those with similar perception tend to claim that, once a student is through with their academic at the middle or elementary level, they tend to forget the bullying experiences and establish self-protection mechanisms against any activities, which is meant to bully them later in life (Englander). However, studies have established that bullying affects the students negatively even several years after the incident occurred (Englander). The negative psychological effects of getting bullied interfere with the victim’s ability to socialize normally hence affecting the victim’s ability to interact with friends, colleagues and even certain family members.
In conclusion, bullying has been a topic of great discussion for years. Even though it cannot be confirmed when bullying first started, there has been an increase of bullying cases in the recent years. Even though bullying may be exercised on any individual regardless of their age, race, nationality or sex, the actions are mostly experienced during the early stage of an individual’s life especially when the involved are in elementary or middle school. Bullying among students in elementary or middle school has been known to have adverse effects not only on the victim but the bully and observer as well. Even though bullying may take place during the early ages of a student and the physical harm inflicted may heal, the emotional aspect of the victim, bully and observers may last a lifetime.
Works Cited
Dunlap, E. Scott, ed. The comprehensive handbook of school safety. CRC Press, 2012.
Englander, Elizabeth Kandel. Bullying and Cyberbullying: What Every Educator Needs to Know. Harvard Education Press. 8 Story Street First Floor, Cambridge, MA 02138, 2013.
Goldblum, Peter. Youth Suicide and Bullying: Challenges and Strategies for Prevention and Intervention. , 2015.
Paull, Megan, Maryam Omari, and Peter Standen. "When is a bystander not a bystander? A typology of the roles of bystanders in workplace bullying." Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources 50.3 (2012): 351-366.
Sapouna, Maria, et al. "Individual and social network predictors of the short‐term stability of bullying victimization in the United Kingdom and Germany." British journal of educational psychology 82.2 (2012): 225-240.
Silton, Nava R. Family Dynamics and Romantic Relationships in a Changing Society. , 2017.
Zastrow, Charles, and Karen K. Kirst-Ashman. Understanding Human Behavior and the Social Environment. , 2016.
